You can find the HD 650 for under $400 easily. I bought mine directly from Amazon for $359.

You could. Amazon's price for the HD 650 went up to $495 recently. Some speculate it's in preparation for the release of the HD700, because Sennheiser doesn't want the next model down to be so much less expensive. That doesn't change your point, though, which is that the discounted price is still significantly lower than its list price. It would be nice if the price for the RS 220 gets discounted, but unless that happens almost immediately, I don't think I'll be patient enough to find out. I don't particularly relish spending $600 on the set, but if it's as good in reality as it looks in theory, it will be exactly what I'm looking for.

I called Senn USA today to check on the status. I know, I'm obsessive about these. I was told they are finally hit the Senn warehouse and will are in the process of being distributed to retailers. Rather than waiting any longer though, I placed my order with them directly (they try to encourage you to go with a retailer - even saying that you can likely get a cheaper price that way - but they will take a direct order if you insist). It's supposed to ship out today. Fingers crossed!

I called Senn USA today to check on the status. I know, I'm obsessive about these. I was told they are finally hit the Senn warehouse and will are in the process of being distributed to retailers. Rather than waiting any longer though, I placed my order with them directly (they try to encourage you to go with a retailer - even saying that you can likely get a cheaper price that way - but they will take a direct order if you insist). It's supposed to ship out today. Fingers crossed!

I had these in a shopping cart at Best Buy last month, and had to go to a holiday dinner, and they were gone when I got back to the computer. I went ahead and ordered a pair of RS 220s from SoundEarphones just now. I just couldn't wait. I'll probably be kicking myself tomorrow when they're $150 cheaper again, but then again, maybe I'll get them quick and be EXTREMELY HAPPY! Even if they are 48K limited I'm using AirPlay with a Macbook Air mostly with MOG and a Pioneer VSX-1121-K receiver with KRK Rokit 6 monitors right now. 96 KHz Flac files with Decibel and Airplay sound wonderful to me, but not super noticeably better than the 320 kbps compressed MP3 stream from MOG. There's not a sample rate display other than for DTS on the receiver, so I don't know what it's getting. I'm assuming that I'm going to be limited by AirPlay regardless, but I'm hoping for a good, if not stellar fully wireless solution. For what it's worth, this is my upstairs small system. My main setup is Sonus Faber Grand Piano Home loudspeakers with a Yamaha RX-V1 (older but top of the line at the time) receiver with a matching DVD player and an AppleTV. It's not really an audiophile level system, but classical, jazz and vocals (such as Diana Krall) sound superb to my middle-aged ears even through the AppleTV. I'm kind of hoping these headphones are going to show me what I've been missing all these years. I hope we find out what the DAC setup in the RS 220 is. I am hoping that I can eventually run a real DAC via Firewire or USB into the RS 220 base and get an even better sound. I haven't even listened to a really good pair of headphones in a very long time. I'm really stoked. Hal.

Rather than waiting any longer though, I placed my order with them directly (they try to encourage you to go with a retailer - even saying that you can likely get a cheaper price that way - but they will take a direct order if you insist). It's supposed to ship out today. Fingers crossed!

From the looks of it, USA is kinda getting the short stick this time. They seem to be available there sooner but I've seen lots of retailers in EU pricing them at 399€ which is roughly $515. I myself have preordered them for around $390 but I'm still waiting on the email telling me that the price has changed.

From the looks of it, USA is kinda getting the short stick this time. They seem to be available there sooner but I've seen lots of retailers in EU pricing them at 399€ which is roughly $515. I myself have preordered them for around $390 but I'm still waiting on the email telling me that the price has changed.

Does anyone know of a site with stock that will ship to Canada? It seems like soundearphones might (since they have information on international shipping), however when I proceed through the checkout I only get an option to ship to the U.S. I also looked at the bhphotovideo site and it says they cannot ship this product to Canada for whatever reason.

RS 220 received this morning. Thanks for the tip on SoundEarphones.com, Jeff. $1.99 for overnight delivery. Preliminary non-audiophile report: sounds damn good to me. My source setup is not dialed in yet, but I have played a variety of music file formats, resolutions and styles of music. 96/24 wav from iTracks (2L classical), 48/16 flac from HDtracks, 320kbps MP3 from MOG. I am indeed hearing remarkable things. Mind, I can't compare these to any wired high end headphones run with a proper DAC, but I'm hearing sound that seems to be centered in the center of my skull, with lots of stuff going on on either side, and lots(!) of detail that has never been apparent in tracks that I have spent a good deal of time listening to previously with my Sonus Faber Grand Piano Home loudspeakers and KRK Rockit 6 studio monitors, both of which I had thought were quite detailed. I don't want to misuse technical nomenclature like soundstage, separation, etc., but this is a whole new adventure in stereo listening for me. There seems to be a nice blend of treble, midrange and bass. For what it's worth, the RS 220s are in a whole different continuum than the Sony MDR-RF4000K wireless headphones I bought last year. I did notice a low level hiss when the sound was muted at one point, but it doesn't seem to be a constant. The headphones themselves seem to squeeze a bit too tightly, and the ear cups seem a tad firm (they definitely fight with my glasses,) but not a huge deal. So far I have connected the transmitter to a Pioneer receiver (VSX-1121-K) via analog and optical digital cables. I don't have a digital coax output right now. I may get an AirPort Express to try. I am using AirPlay from my MacBook Air to the Pioneer, and playing audio files from a USB flash drive plugged into the receiver. Everything sounds pretty great. I like female vocals, and listening to Heart, Suzanne Vega, and Diana Krall has been revelatory. The hires classical and jazz PCM and FLAC tracks I have tried sound extremely clear and detailed without being overly bright. These might not be the best choice for rock and pop, but they seem to be quite good. I think I am limited to 48kHz sampling rates by AirPlay and by my receiver, and maybe by the Sennheisers. I do wish there were a wired option like the Sennheiser PX 360 BT. However, for a fully wireless system I am super happy so far.

So far I have connected the transmitter to a Pioneer receiver (VSX-1121-K) via analog and optical digital cables. I don't have a digital coax output right now. I may get an AirPort Express to try. I am using AirPlay from my MacBook Air to the Pioneer, and playing audio files from a USB flash drive plugged into the receiver.

This is my first post so please bear with me if things go horribly wrong. I have a Pioneer VSX-1021-K and love the AirPlay feature, which I have been using with a RS 160. I'm very interested in the RS 220, but can't figure out how to use the digital inputs of the transmitter with the Pioneer. It seems that I could only use the coax or optical outputs on the Pioneer with something like a CD player and that AirPlay would restrict me to the headphone out jack through an adapter into the R and L RCA jacks of the RS 220. Is that your experience? One thing spending hours on this site has taught me is that I'm a treble-head. How did you find the treble on the RS 220. Thanks for your impressions, really helpful.